Got an e-mail from the neighborhood list:
Helen Wishon, former Southeast Priority Board member and past president of the Neighborhood Leadership Institute Alumni Association, died yesterday. As a South Park representative on the Priority Board she worked to beautify her neighborhood and to provide positive opportunities for the youth in her area.
While a member of the Southeast Priority Board Helen served as Chair of the Housing Committee, and on the Executive and Land Use Committees. She planned and organized Southeast’s annual recognition dinner for for many years. She was a tireless and generous advocate for stray animals.
Helen was one of my heroes. She was willing to fight to be heard- although some took her just for being old and bitter. At one time, she owned “Alexanders” the bar on Brown Street, that was as famous for it’s drink and drown nights as it was for being next to the Todd Burlesque. Both are now an empty green field between an old Dayton firehouse that’s been turned into a house- and a lot that has had two of the ugliest buildings ever- first a Rally’s burger drive through and then a “Medicine Shoppe” drug store that’s never really opened.
The block used to have character- just like it had Helen- a character. At times she was the foil to the neighborhood machine- and others, she was its strongest advocate. She may not have been a “preservationist”- but, her home was always not only well kept, but had the most spectacular display of flowers around. Helen fought for the less fortunate, for the class of people who didn’t know they had a voice. She was a shrewd businesswoman, who understood there had to be balance between what was feasible for business- and what could be expected by the community. Her work on the priority board was all volunteer- and she took it seriously.
South Park has lost a few of its grand dames over the last few years. I’ll still miss Betty Jane John, Pat Breidenbach and now Helen. They were all strong women, who were fearless and lived life on their terms.
Those who knew Helen could probably add quite a few anecdotes to this brief remembrance, and I hope you do.
I’ll just remember that if it hadn’t been for Helen, there never would have been water spigots on the Burns Avenue center boulevard- and now, there may not be someone to haul out the hose and water the plants anymore. That small gesture may not be missed by most, but, if that’s the small change you can make in the world- and just a few notice it, then you’ve made a difference.
Helen made a much greater contribution, and she will be missed.
[add] Services for Helen will be on Monday February 2, 2009 at the Burns Avenue Gospel Mission Chapel located at 64 Burns Avenue at 6:30pm. Friends and family are welcome to gather after the service for light refreshments at the South Park Tavern located at 1301 Wayne Avenue. Contributions to SICSA [1] in Helen’s name may be made in lieu of flowers.
I have a much different opinion of Helen, and I’m glad after all this time to finally be able to tell my story. In the mid ’80s I was living in Dayton with my husband, who was a military officer. We bought a house on Wyoming Avenue, but I didn’t live in it very long. As soon as we were away from the base my now ex resumed the physical abuse that I had lived with in TN before he joined the military, despite his promises that he was a changed man. He was – he got worse. After he tried to kill me a third time, I left him, slept in my car for two weeks in January on WSU’s campus where I was a student, and then shared a house for a while near campus with a couple of other students as a couch surfer. I managed to find a job and started looking for a small, affordable apartment. That’s when I met Helen. Helen was pleasant but all business when she showed me the apartment, and I liked the location and the amount was what I could afford on my waitressing job at Pizza Hut. Two weeks after I had moved in, I had a couple of friends over to study. About an hour after we got there, there was a knock at the door. It was Helen. She asked me out into the hall, then told me I was not allowed to have male visitors in my apartment. Say what? I protested but it did no good. I had to go in and ask my friends to leave, since they had ridden together (one was male, the other female). I left as well and we continued studying at the library. Did I mention, by the way, that my apartment was above Alexanders? My neighbors were for the most part men, and most were elderly and alcoholic. I would see them return from the local liquor store with grocery bags full of clinking bottles, and later that night I could hear the men on both sides of… Read more »
Denise,
Thank you for your chilling and awful story.
As you see, this post is 9 years old- and no one else left a remembrance.
They say to speak kindly of the dead- this was my attempt.
Helen did do some good things, but, as we now know- she also did some shitty things.
Thank you for your experiences.
Maybe others will now come forward.
I’m deeply sorry this happened to you.